Baptism: restoration and purification for all

Most Christians think of baptism as having its origins as a Christian rite. Yet John the Baptist, for whom the rite is named, was most certainly a Jew and was following a well-established Jewish practice.

This important Hebrew act of immersion in water, to signify purification, is given considerable coverage in the four Gospels. Further, it is the opening story in both the books of Mark and John. This is a clear indication of the importance the writers gave to this act of purifying immersion. In fact, that’s where John the Baptist got his name. The Greek word for the act of dunking or dipping is baptizo from which we get the Englishbaptize.

John has another interesting role to play in gospel history. He is one of the few gospel characters mentioned in a non-Biblical source of the period. Josephus, a historian of the time, mentioned John in this way: “… for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 18.5.2).

Thus this contemporary source suggests that the baptism was more than just a ritual cleaning of the body. It was a rite that showed the individual was entering a new relationship with God based on their improved behavior.

In ancient Jerusalem of John’s time, the immersion process required a large system of baths to accommodate the many pilgrims who came to the Temple. Speaking of the time when Jesus was taken to the temple as a young boy, one Bible scholar writes: “The temple to which Mary and her family were headed was by far the largest religious structure in the world at the time ...” (Bruce Chilton, Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography [New York: Doubleday, 2000], p. 24). He goes on to say, “Everyone entering the Temple needed to bathe by immersion. The entire southern slope up to the Temple entrance was developed with a system of canals, channels, and cisterns (visible today as a result of excavation), so that all Temple-goers might make themselves clean during this final ascent into the presence of the Holy One of Israel” (Chilton, p. 27).

Baths (miqvaoth in Hebrew), interestingly, would also be available for non-Jews who wanted to visit the Temple. So, right in the center of the holiest of Jewish sites there was a sense of the universality of the practice of purification.

The underlying significance of the act of purification, then, is one in which the underlying goodness or purity of the individual is recognized and, in a way, restored. The act of immersion symbolizes the clearing away of any defilement or moral blemish to reveal the true goodness of the person.

In that sense it is a unification ceremony, the reestablishment of the person’s original and totally unique relationship with their spiritual identity and oneness with God through repentance and reconciliation. “For John, and in ancient Judaism generally, repentance meant a ‘return’ (shuv in Hebrew, tuv in Aramaic) to God” (Chilton, p. 48).

The book of Ezekiel points to this returning in spirit as a result of purification. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you …. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.... and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.” A heart of flesh would mean a heart that would have feeling, compassion, and unity with others.

In a way, these ideas of purification and returning to one’s true, spiritual self are a unifying celebration among many religions. In particular, the desire to return to an original state of purity in one’s life flows from the ancient Jewish practice into the Christian and Muslim faiths that followed.

The miqvaoth has evolved into the baptismal font or immersion pool in many Christian churches. That Muslims desire to show forth purity of thought is evident when they make a sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. “The pilgrim enters the sanctuary of the Ka‛bah in Mecca in a state of ritual purity (ihram) clad in two plain white pieces of cloth indicating the equality of all believers before Allah” (David Waines, An Introduction to Islam [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995], p. 92 ). This underlying desire for purity and spiritual unity among different religious faiths holds out great hope for humanity.

Mary Baker Eddy sheds further light on baptism and its spiritual basis when she defines baptism in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as “purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit.”

Elsewhere in this book she explains what this yearning for a world-unifying “purification by Spirit” can mean in each of our lives by pointing out: “One’s aim, a point beyond faith, should be to find the footsteps of Truth, the way to health and holiness. We should strive to reach the Horeb height where God is revealed; and the corner-stone of all spiritual building is purity. The baptism of Spirit, washing the body of all the impurities of flesh, signifies that the pure in heart see God and are approaching spiritual Life and its demonstration.”

Such a baptismal approach to spiritual life returns us to our natural and pure relationship with God and includes all mankind. It is certainly what the world needs and is yearning for.

Baptism of Spirit:

Science and Health
581:23
241:23

King James Bible
Matt. 3:1-17
Mark 1:1-11
Luke 3:1-25
John 1:6-26
Ezek. 36:25-28